[Desktop_architects] Summary of DAM-3

John Cherry cherry at linux-foundation.org
Thu Apr 12 09:09:38 PDT 2007


With the merger of OSDL and FSG, the locations of the historical data
can be a bit confusing.  I was asked to post the summary of DAM-3 again
to this list.  Here are the "speaking points" we summarized at the end
of the meeting in Portland...

http://groups.osdl.org/apps/group_public/download.php/3022/dam3_summary.pdf

Since we disperse to our respective projects and organizations, it can
be difficult to follow progress in some of the focus areas.  Please feel
free to send updates on the projects you are involved in.  I'll update
the list here with some of the things that I know about...

Audio / Multimedia
==================
General consensus that audio on Linux sucks.  Which interfaces should be
used?  What is the vision?  How are proprietary CODECs handled?

Kurt Taylor and Paul Davis have taken the lead in forming a sound /
multimedia workgroup.  It has been a little slow getting off the ground,
but should be announced shortly.  The collaboration area for this work
is http://www.linux-foundation.org/en/Linux_Sound_and_Multimedia

On the CODEC/DRM front, there have been announcements from Fluendo, Real
Networks, Ubuntu, and Linspire on legal ways to get CODECs on the
desktop.  DRM is a different story.

Applications
============
Applications vendors want stable, consistent interfaces maintained over
time.  Distro-independent apps.

One solid step that has been taken is that the LSB is now committed to
backward compatibility (especially relating to library interfaces) from
LSB 3.0 forward.  It will take some time for backward compatibility
benefits to be seen, but at least it is in place with the LSB.

http://www.linux-foundation.org/en/LSB_Roadmap

Distros.....the message was clear that many distros limit their focus
and library support to open source.  Is there anything the distros would
like to say about what is being done to support these 3rd party and
proprietary applications moving forward?

Cross-Desktop
=============
The Portland tools (xdg-utils) are a good start to installation and
runtime consistency.  The 1.0 version was released in October
(http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/10/11/1355201).  The xdg-utils
are now included in most development distros, in the LSB, and in the LSB
toolkits.

Waldo...any updates on the "desktop services" phase (D-BUS-based) of the
Portland Project?
Till/Ira...any updates on common print dialog as a desktop service?

D-BUS is touting API/ABI stability and handles backward compatibility.

John/Marius...any updates on inclusion in major distos and usage by key
apps (Skype, Qt, OLPC, BlueZ, etc.)?

Defect Tracking
===============
See recent discussion on this list.

HW Driver Support
=================
We discussed the possibility of a kit (CD) which users could take with
them for assessing a platform for Linux (driver support and Linux
compatibility).  We also threw around the idea of a compatibility
"sticker".

Brett/Marc...has this kit evolved yet?  

John

==============================
Desktop Architects Meeting - 4
Google's Mountain View Campus
June 14-15




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